Labour Right Project in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire

Proforest is implementing the Labour Right Project (LRP) to identify and act on human and labour rights risks in the oil palm and cocoa sectors in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. The project is being implemented in collaboration with Ulula, a supply chain technology company, and other local partners in the two countries with funding from Global Affairs Canada.

This project aims to reach 35,000+ direct beneficiaries over the course of three years in selected production landscapes, primarily vulnerable workers like women, youth and migrants.  Additionally, 250,000 indirect beneficiaries will be targeted, including workers’ families, and other stakeholders such as processors, traders, distributors, traditional and community leaders.

The LRP adopts Ulula’s technology to provide a continuous, accessible and anonymised monitoring system to report human and labour rights abuses. Ulula amplifies worker and community voices to create more responsible supply chains. Ulula - which means reveal in Chichewa, a Southern African dialect— was founded to foster more transparency in global supply chains and provide practical tools to enable workers and communities to improve social, labor and human rights impacts.

Other activities include awareness raising campaigns, worker voice surveys and an anonymous incident reporting line, which will be available at no cost to the participating communities during the pilot phase.

The LRP will also employ the use of mobile technology such as automated voice calls, SMS and WhatsApp to accommodate people with different literacy levels.  The local community mobilizers who are employed to support this initiative help establish connections to vulnerable populations so they can access relevant and current rights-based information, resources and support.